Influence of measurement errors of the complex coherence factor on reconstructed image quality of integrated optical interferometric imagers

Abstract

Interferometric imagers need to measure the phase, modulus, and spatial frequency coordinates of the complex coherence factor to reconstruct images. However, these three measurement parameters are accompanied by certain measurement errors in the actual imaging process, thereby affecting the quality of the reconstructed image. Based on the checkerboard integrated optical imaging system, we simulate the influence of measurement errors of the complex coherence factor on the imaging performance of the integrated optical interferometric imager. The simulation results show that, on the premise that measurement errors follow the normal distribution, the modulus measurement error does not significantly reduce the quality of the reconstructed image, whereas the phase and spatial frequency coordinate measurement errors have a great impact. When the mean value of the phase measurement error is 0, the standard deviation must be <0.18π to ensure the high quality of the reconstructed image. For the measurement error of the spatial frequency coordinates, when the standard deviation of the lenslet position errors is <0.075 times the shortest baseline length, its influence on the quality of the reconstructed image is acceptable. The simulation results are of great help to the engineering, manufacturing, and application of integrated optical interferometric imaging technology.